Helwan Fertilizer Company, an Egyptian producer of ammonia and urea, has ordered five complete sets of guide blade carriers at Siemens Energy. In fertilizer plants, production must be completely shut down in case of a turbine outage or planned major overhaul. After a few days of downtime, the losses incurred as a result of production outage will exceed the value of the investment in strategic spare parts.

Based on field experience, not only the moving blading but, frequently, also the guide blading can be affected by potential damage to the turbine, rendering them no longer usable. This is the reason why the majority of operators of such critical plants also have a complete rotor assembly comprising rotor and guide blade carriers in stock, in addition to other spare parts, ready for installation.

With its decision to purchase these complete guide blade carriers, along with the availability of spare rotors for its five industrial steam turbines, Helwan Fertilizer Company can ensure extremely short overhaul times. Its expenditures will be paid back and moreover topped by additional earnings due to resuming production more rapidly when it comes to plant downtime due to damage or scheduled overhauls.